Supporting Member

I started reefing with a 12G Fluval Edge about 3 years ago and it took all of about 6 months for me to upgrade to my first "adult" tank. My Red Sea Reefer 250 has been running for exactly 884 days as of today. There have been many ups and downs; lucky for me, I'm currently in an up period for the tank spotlight.

I'm gonna steal a little bit of formatting from @Gablami spotlight award post from last month since it was laid out so cleanly.

Lighting: I am currently running three Radion XR15w Pro G4s with diffusers. I get around 350-400 PAR up at the top of the rocks and around 150 on the sand bed. I am using a modified Coral Labs/Ecotech SPS AB+ schedule profile that has around 7 hours of peak lighting (a simulated 18,500K) and then I have 20,000K running during ramp up/down for about 3 hours on each side.

Flow: I am running two Vortech MP40s; one on the right side and the other on the back left on reef crest mode at 45% and 40% power, respectively. Return flow is powered by a Vectra M1 at ~60% (runs external fuge as well).

Controller: I have an Apex 2016 with 2 EB832, a PM1 for calcium reactor, a couple of FMMs and ALD for sensor and leak notifications.

Sump: The reefer sump is a small one. Not much room for anything. I used to have multiple reactors running carbon, GFO, biopellets, but I have removed them all because I’m “keeping it simple” (i.e., I’m lazy). There no socks or filter floss and all nutrient removal is up to the 6” Reef Octopus Regal 150INT w/ Avast Marine Automated Neck Cleaner, a media bag of ROX 0.8 Carbon/High Capacity GFO, and the 12 gallon external fuge that is filled with chaeto, pom pom gracilaria, and red ogo gracilaria. If you have a sharp eye, you’ll notice that my 12 gallon Fluval edge come along for the ride during the upgrade to be my fuge. I use two LED grow panels that are side mounted that light up with fuge with around 35W of light for 10 hours a night. BTW, I know I fail at cable/electronic management. I need a potentially less wet spot for all that gear.

My “Fish Room”: Where’s the ATO you ask? My wife has been nice enough to let me take up some space in the pantry that shares a wall with the tank for the calcium reactor and ATO. I am using an Advanced Acrylics 20 gallon ATO with a Tunze Osmolator 3155 that Apex tells me to fill about every 20 days after the optical sensor is triggered open. I have a Vertex RX-C 6D calcium reactor with Two Little Fishies Reborn and Remag media and use a Masterflex 7523-80 to pull water from the sump through the reactor.

Maintenance: I do a 15 gallon water change around every 10-14 days. Calcium reactor takes care of alk/cal/mg and some trace elements. I’m going through 17.1ml/min of effluent. I am also dosing some trace elements through Red Sea Trace Elements ABCD. I usually pull a handful of macro algae once a week to make sure it doesn't overgrow.